The Spanish authorities have indicted a number of individuals with the ongoing investigation of crypto-funded child porn websites on the dark web. The Spanish Civil Guard reportedly brought down a dark web-based crypto-funded child porn gang that used cryptocurrency transactions to subscribe to the contents.
According to the Spanish Civil Guard, the operation known as “Jekyll” nabbed three individuals connected to the “Welcome 2 Video” platform. However, the Spanish authorities have received additional reinforcement from the US authorities to take down the crypto-funded child porn gang.
Crypto-funded child porn business on the dark web
Users of the platform would pay using digital currencies such as bitcoin or any other privacy token to access content on the dark web. And the platform rewarded members for uploading their videos and photos to the dark web-based website. The examination of thousands of cryptocurrency transactions led to the final arrest of individuals connected to the site.
Additionally, Spanish law enforcement reportedly detained an individual in Bilbao, Spain, during operation “Kugantxu.” As per the police, the person was arrested for purchasing and streaming for pornographic content where minors were sexually violated live on-demand. The name of the website has not yet been revealed.
International co-operation against child pornography
Notably, the Civil Guard claims that the dark web site is operated by people based in the Philippines. Once the Philippine Transnational Criminal Investigation Unit was informed, they were able to recognize the content shared by individuals. The Spanish authorities also carried out an operation called “kiru,” which resulted in the arrest of a man based in Madrid for defiling his 16-year-old stepdaughter.
The large international operation led to the identification of 20 individuals based in the U.S.; Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, and Peru. Furthermore, earlier this month, a South Korean court ordered all the crypto assets and digital wallets owned by Cho Ju-bin to be frozen, the suspect behind Nth Room, a child porn channel based on Telegram.